ABSTRACT
Japan has a relatively large global ecological footprint despite its high levels of pollution control know how. This is due in part to the consumption patterns of its relatively wealthy and large population and industry’s demand for resources to fuel Japan’s export-oriented economy. Japan has contributed in substantial ways to the loss of marine biodiversity and to deforestation in Southeast Asia. It is also a major emitter of greenhouse gases. At the same time, Japan is a leader in the provision of environmental assistance to developing and transitioning economies. It is also a party to most major global environmental agreements, including the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Climate Agreement, the International Labor Organization’s Convention concerning Safety in the Use of Asbestos, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Japan’s foreign environmental image, however, remains tainted by its relatively large number of reservations to the listing of species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and its sometimes slow accession to international environmental agreements.
